As a long time fan of Infamous I was somewhat excited to grab this with little to no expectations. From the get go my mind was blown though. The motion controllers with the controller as well as the pads are used in maybe not the most useful way, but in an awesome way that makes me constantly keep wanting to go back for more. Infamous: Second Son is by far the best in the series and possibly the best PS4 game currently out.
Infamous: Second Son’s gameplay has not changed much, but they fine tuned the combat to always feel like a rush and a challenge depending on how you go about it. The game features 4 new powers of which I will barely go in to for spoiler reasons, but one thing to say about the powers Is each feels different, useful, and each has their own fun thing to them. The powers are amazing and each differ from the last.
At the beginning of the game I remember thinking “Wow! Smoke is awesome!” but by the end I felt it sucked compared to the other powers. All of them are great, but some of them do overshadow the rest. Even then though you enjoy your stay with all the powers regardless. The gameplay has changed not as drastically as it did from 1 to 2, but it has been fine tuned in making the experience overall a better one.
The story as well is something better than the originals. While the morality choices do not change the story like they sued to, they do shape how Delsin acts, looks, and how people treat Delsin. The story is more of the same except for key missions that at the start give you the choice of Blue or Red. As for that good Delsin is…. well good.
I really his character in good, but when playing evil he turns in to quiet an evil douche. The endings differ as well. The good ending you feel good about yourself and your choices, but the evil ending feels pure evil and for me left me thinking “Oh good Lord, what have I done?” which I suppose is the desired effect of evil overall. While the story is predictable at times even when what you predict is exposed you still feel the power behind it and still are somewhat in awe.
Delsin is a bit better than Cole as well for a couple of reasons. While playing Cole I never felt like his base character could ever truly be evil, but that is different for Delsin. Delsin’s base character is a punk and it seems as if he can go either way just based on his mood. The supporting characters as well are great as well and their dialogue is well written.
The background story you get for them is always touching and unexpected. The characters mold around Delsin as well and you can choose their redeeming/corruption missions based off of that. I really recommend going through on good first though because it made me feel a lot better about myself than the evil ending did. The good ending though brings out the best in each character and has Delsin finding the change he needs as well as the change the World needs.
Lets go on to talk about the World. Which is pretty amazing overall. The town of Seattle is vibrant with citizens roaming the streets, karma random events, and the D.U.P. You have a choice of grabbing the random side missions which are entertaining, doing karma events, or just destroying the D.U.P around the area.
The World is huge, the graphics are beautiful, and the frames are constant. During my 2 playthroughs I did not see a single drop in the frame rate and redid a good amount of the side missions. They have the same feeling, but they are a nice throw away for your time. The spray paint artwork is awesome, the audio logs are interesting, chasing the D.U.P. Agents is fun, and the hidden cameras are… hidden!
The controls are spot on and the music is fantastic. The music is always around and always giving a great feeling. The voice actors are all great and all seem to fit in with their characters. The dialogue as I said before is all well placed and feels genuine. Infamous: Second Son is also something that is easy to pick back up and get back in to.
After moving on and playing a couple of games with other friends I was able to pick the game back up and still enjoy my free-roam experience. The only complaint is that it won’t last forever as there isn’t too much to do after you 100% the game and acquire all the trophies. The Paper Trail is a great idea that helps, but Cole’s Legacy is nothing more than a free jacket. It adds nothing of value and the story for it is not very informative.
Overall though Infamous: Second Son is fantastic. It isn’t perfect, but the beautiful surroundings, the stability, the story, the characters, and the morality really bring it all together making it the best Infamous to date. While having a predictable story the reveal of some of the more predictable parts still hold impact.
The game’s morality choices may be lacking, but they help shape your character and the conduits he picks up along the way. Both endings are satisfying in their own ways and drastically change the person that Delsin and his followers become. If you own a PS4 and haven’t bought this game you need to. It is a great exclusive that should bring you hours of enjoyment and awe. Not to mention the fact that if you are a fan of Infamous you should be very surprised at changes made in the series. In almost every aspect this game shines.
Overall Score: 9.5/10